Don’t Let a Nickel Hold Up a Dollar FNNBOA President's Message, Spring 2014

RETROSPECTIVE

 Housing inspection services delivered by FNNBOA to First Nations communities

A national non-profit organization is fighting in the trenches of First Nation housing. First Nations National Building Officers Association (FNNBOA) is a volunteer organization that represents a profession offering technical services in residential construction and renovation on-reserve.

FNNBOA members are qualified to deal with house plan reviews, inspections, recommendation of repairs, and they provide technical advocacy and advisory services for on-reserve housing.

Chief Keith Maracle, Tyendinaga, Ontario, is secretary of the volunteer board, “There are approximately 250 to 300 employed in this sector,” a small number in relation to the number of First Nation Indian Act-governed communities in Canada, no less than 700 inhabited Indian Reservations.

FNNBOA faces a peculiar challenge to expand the role of its officers in First Nation housing, “We are seen as regulatory,” said Chief Maracle, and regulations are apparently not something to be desired in the fractious world of First Nation housing.

FNNBOA members are qualified to inspect housing construction, “We have occupational standards, a code of ethics, and certification procedures to inspect houses on reserve.” Chief Maracle says FNNBOA members are qualified to support CMHC and mortgage approvals, INAC leasehold guarantee programs, and reports to Environment Canada.

Richard ‘Bud’ Jobin is co-President of FNNBOA who hails from central Alberta. Since 2002 when they laid the organizational groundwork, these two men have been advocates of professional First Nation housing services, “Certified inspection of First Nation housing is becoming a compliance issue,” says Bud, “which impacts on mortgage and insurance.”

It may not be here but the age of reason is coming over First Nation housing policy and FNNBOA intends to have First Nation housing inspection services in the ready. They have training affiliations with George Brown University, Humber College, NAIT, and Vancouver Island University to produce qualified First Nation Housing inspectors.

Bank creating viable housing market

Royal Bank of Canada illustrates the growing importance of certified inspection services in First Nation housing. RBC introduced a program this spring to help First Nations capitalize on economic growth opportunities.

RBC announced a new mortgage program called the Leasehold Mortgage Program to, “provide First Nations members with greater flexibility and choice when it comes to financing the purchase or construction of a home.” It also helps create marketable housing in reserve communities.

“RBC has worked with First Nations leaders/governments for many years to find and provide options for financing a home in the same manner that is offered off a reserve,” said David Cutway, manager, Residential Mortgages Policy, RBC.

“This new CMHC default-insured program . . . allows qualified borrowers on qualified reserve lands to obtain a home mortgage, benefitting both the purchaser and the First Nation community.”

Financing of on-reserve housing has been limited in the past, said Mr. Cutway. “For example, First Nations members had to obtain a band or Ministerial Loan Guarantee (MLG) to secure a loan to purchase a home on reserve land. In addition, the First Nation government was responsible for the construction, maintenance and repair of these homes.”

The Leasehold Mortgage Program can help First Nations improve economic development through the construction of new homes, renovations to existing homes, purchases of new or existing homes, and construction of duplexes to four-plexes.

First Nations communities may also use the program to attract non-Aboriginal homebuyers to properties developed on leasehold land, such as the housing development projects undertaken by the Westbank and Tzeachten First Nations, both of which are located in British Columbia. Ed note There is no advertising sold in support of all the research and writing, so feel free to donate in aid of the important message delivered:

The Pacific Trail Pipelines Limited Partnership, a CBC report

Bob Rae to head First Nations board for B.C. pipeline

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/07/24/pol-bob-rae-chairman-board.html?cmp=rss

Chief throws out Indian Act Status Card

http://intercontinentalcry.org/amc-grand-chief-throws-out-indian-act-status-card/

Klahowya Village - The Legend of the Spirit Bear

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You can do anything with God's help: God Opens Doors: Kisemanitow Peyohtena Iskwahtem

 

 Angelique Merasty Levac has done it again, achieved great things out of her faith in God, when the Individual Achievement Award was awarded by the B.C. Achievement Foundation, Jan. 27, 2009, at the Pan-Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, B.C..

 "I flew up there and they paid all my expenses. Me and (my sister) Marie went. She was my helper and we flew inthere and they booked us at the PanPacific Hotel. It was themost beautiful place I ever stayed. I felt like a princess," she laughs.

 Then she said, "We took a taxi to Value Village in East Hastings to spend three or four hours there on our first day. We walked all of East Hastings. I wanted to see  where all the street people hang out. We went shopping in  there and oh how our feet were sore. I was shopping for a  skirt, and I got a nice like top to go with it.

"It was really sad," however, "My heart went out to people. It was really sad to see all the street people. It's like George Street in Prince George but a larger size. Seeing our own people living the life in the street was hard. We just prayed for them. I told my sister, 'Marie these are our own people.' You wanted to help. I wanted to give money to everybody. My sister kept saying, 'We got to keep going.'"

The next evening was the banquet and ceremony. "We had salmon with a sauce with wine and my little sister got a little tickled. They said I had two minutes to deliver my speech. I really wanted to reach these people. It's not all my doing. God is doing for me. I had a standing ovation. They clapped one minute, and when I turned around  to look at the Premier's helper, he said 'Turn around,' and that's when I felt like a person from a trap-line."

But "You could hear a pin-drop while story. It was part of the story that I wrote for a book that I have written called Kisemanitow Peyowhten Iskwahtem -- God Opens Doors. I had to condense it into two minutes. I wanted to share my belief in what God has done for me. It was over 400 people (and they were only expecting 300). It was the the most beautiful room with crystal hanging from the ceiling."

"I began my speech with 'Tansi,'" Angelique said, and then she told how she proceeded in Cree: "I thank my Creator for blessing me with this gift of birch bark biting. This gift has given me opportunities I never would have dreamed of."

And she continued, "And now the great honour of receiving this award. With great respect I thank my teacher Angelique Merasty. I began birch bark biting in 1980. I knew it was the Creator who directed me to this ancient art work.  . . And now here I am."

Angelique said, "I got a standing ovation for that speech. I prayed to God and I said I want to praise You in my speech.   It took us two days to write it. I got a lot of help from a lady who walked in to my store a week before.

"She was the Premier's speech writer, and she told me "You know what the people want to hear Angelique? They want to hear your personal story." The evening went wonderfully, but "It was really stressful for whleuntil I did my speech."

She won the award for the success of running Angelique's Native Arts for 15 years in Prince George, B.C., which she started after learning to create one-of-a-kind birch bark biting art works, a tradition of the Northern Woodland Cree women.

During the speech, she said, "I touched a lot of people. When I was standing up there and receiving the standing ovation I was smiling and my face was getting sore from smiling. The Creator said this is honouring me."

"I had to raise my hand to Him when I was coming down the stairs. I had to give him the glory. And a lady sitting at my table said, 'Oh Angelique! You made me cry.' I had people from Prince George who came up to me to thank me. I felt overwhelmed."

She added, "I didn't know how to deal with the attention so I gave God all the glory. Can you imagine? If there were some people sitting there feeling down I probably encouraged them."

Out of this engagement Angelique received an offer, "I may be going and doing speaking engagements; motivational speaking is going to be in my future. I can encourage people. The lady who suggested it said, 'Angelique, you are a walking artist."

She relishes the motivational speaking opportunity, "I have a great outlook. You can do anything with God's help."

God Opens Doors by Angelique Merasty Levac (with Mack McColl)

Angelique Merasty Levac is author of a book entitled God Opens Doors, Kisemanitow Peyohtena Iskwahtem, in print September 2012. The publisher is Indian Life Books of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and they have followed her art and business career and admired her Christian walk for many years. 


God Opens Doors – Intertribal Life Ministries

Angelique with granddaughter Mercedez

     

"I was born at Midnight Lake, Manitoba," said Angelique Merasty Levac. "It is bush and nobody lives there,” in the far northern reaches of central Canada.

Marcus Alfred, a monumental carver on the west coast of North America

RIP Marcus Alfred

McColl Magazine Features: In Memory of Marcus Alfred; Second Video Features his Dad, Wayne Alfred, Alert Bay Artists of the Coastal Tradition

Hydropower development is about relationship and early stage planning

Veresen Inc. is engaged in construction of a hydropower project in northwest B.C. that speaks to the development opportunities in this area of the province. The pace of development is indicated by the demand for skilled labour in a growing number of projects in the northwest Pacific. Alexi Zawadzki, Vice President, Hydropower Development, Veresen Inc says a 20 MW project cluster is under construction on Dasque Creek and nearby Middle Creek.
 

“We signed three Impact Benefit Agreements with Kitselas, Lax Kw'alaams, and Metlakatla First Nations. The consultation process took three years with Kitselas and Coast Tsimshian business developers,” says Zawadzki, “who are savvy on training and contract opportunities. We were flexible in discussion and careful in finalizing these IBAs so as to consider the many interests came to the table from each organization. I am very pleased to see a new community bus for Lax Kw’alaams and a rescue vessel in the works for Metlakatla, made possible by our project.”
 

First Nation contractors have been clearing the penstock and access routes for a year. The timeline of the Dasque Project calls for completion in 2013. “We had a tough winter last year plus flooding issues on Skeena which threatened the 20 km access road. We had to build up the road during freshet, which was conducted by a First Nations contractor. Winter road maintenance was conducted by a local top-notch First Nation contractor, which we hired for a second year.” With two large dumps of snow already the crew has been out maintaining access to the construction site for a few weeks already.

 

“We have a turbine installed at Middle Creek,” says Zawadzki, “and we are putting in penstock on both projects. Soon we will be starting construction of the water intakes,” on this $75 million run-of-river hydro development with a 40 year electricity purchase agreement with BC Hydro. When the power comes on stream depends on a 20 km transmission line being finished, “which is relatively a simple build on this project.” The transmission line interconnects at the Skeena substation near Terrace.

Veresen is B.C.-oriented in pursuit of new energy, “What we find is a lot of opportunities for First Nation business to get involved, including civil works, and transmission line construction, and it ought to be a focus in the education system to build the skill sets and capacity for working in construction. In this territory there is a concentration on forestry in First Nations and it's done them well but there is an opportunity to diversify by expanding skill sets into construction in order to mitigate the ebb and flow of the lumber markets. There are opportunities in project management, scheduling, concrete works, earth works, electrical/mechanical and projects across the province are demanding people with construction skills.”

Recruiting First Nation personnel is integral, “We have an office administrator in Terrace from Kitselas who is a very competent, well- educated professional. However, had she had difficulty finding the right school until she landed at Capilano University in Vancouver. It's a matter of finding the right fit for learning.”
 

Veresen Inc is working on another hydro development located north of Squamish. The Culliton Project is in the permitting stage, and the company has an IBA with the Squamish First Nation that has developed over a number of years, providing once more a process for contract opportunities, employment and training. That's a $50 million investment by Veresen into an area that contains a strong First Nation vision, “The Squamish have great understanding of the investment and top leadership in balancing economic development and environmental stewardship.”
 

Veresen Inc operates across North America building new infrastructure that deliver jobs. Over 350 people have been put to work thus far in the Dasque project, he says, “and it will add value to community. We try to hire locally for there are advantages in having people who know the terrain, the relationships, and where the skills are available. We are in a situation in the northwest Pacific where a lot of other projects have drained the labour pool. It’s great to see people back to work in the north.”
 

Veresen sees a bright future in power development in BC and does it in various ways, “We do wind power, gas-fired power generation, and hydro throughout the country and we see a bright future in partnerships with First Nation groups. We always engage First Nations group at the earliest stage, when the project is just a concept. The people we deal with have a depth of understanding in culture, environment, and land use planning. We have a history of conducting environmental and permitting work with First Nations service providers. This allows us to plan projects to fit the landscape. At the end of the day, it’s about relationships, doing our best by others, and if something fails we have a level of trust to fall back on.”

Minigoo Fisheries alive in lobster fishery once again

Minigoo Fisheries re-opened for business in the month of September 2012. It may be a modest celebration but this is a major achievement. Lobster licenses and processing will operate under the same name thus everything was sorted out to the satisfaction of trustees and business in the lobster and fish plant is proceeding as of the first week of September 2012, says Don Bernard, general manager. They employ 70 people at the Minigoo Fisheries processing facility. It is nine months a year of employment for members of the Mi’Kmaq Confederacy of PEI (MCPEI) and others in the surroundings of Lennox Island First Nation. That is the hope.

Business success lies within the grasp of Chief Darlene Bernard who has history and antiquity on her side. The fisheries in these waters thrived before Europeans arrived in North America, when ancestors of today's Mi'kmaq people came in ocean-going canoes to harvest shellfish and lobster from the shallow bays and harbours of Prince Edward Island. Two decades ago this ancient practice was revived by the Supreme Court of Canada. The court ruled that aboriginal people enjoyed treaty rights giving them access to the resources of Canada to earn "a modest living". Aboriginal nations began entering the lobster fishery along Canada's Atlantic Ocean coastline, fishing the lobster grounds alongside non-aboriginal boats; selling their catch to processing plants scattered across Prince Edward Island.

A number of licences were awarded to the Lennox Island First Nation. Boats owned by the band, as well as independently owned vessels, became participants in the fishery. And then, one morning in early August, 2009, two people met to discuss the idea of setting up and operating a lobster processing plant on lands owned by the Lennox Island First Nation. Chief Darlene Bernard was interested in the potential of a for-profit processing industry located on Lennox Island to provide employment for her people, and earn money for additional economic development to their benefit. Chief Bernard harboured a dream of creating greater economic self sufficiency for her people as a way to breaking the cycle of dependency under the Indian Act, which held them back.
Jon Osmann Aranson was native to Iceland, that Norse island in the North Atlantic where fishing is in the genes of every inhabitant. From his teen years he worked in the commercial fishing industry, a career that took him to Russia, China and Japan before he fetched up managing the processing plant in Prince Edward Island. Aranson had a dream to create a processing plant from scratch; to put his international experience to work designing, equipping and operating a processing plant to exacting specifications that would meet and exceed international standards.

\The dreams of these two from dissimilar backgrounds came together in a single unified purpose. The dreamers had nine months to make it reality - including several in the dead of winter when snow-laden north winds blow fierce over Prince Edward Island. There was a critical challenge to be met - financing. A key decision was made to seek financing from private sources. Minigoo Fisheries was to be a profit-making enterprise - not another government make-work program. A business plan was prepared. The Bank of Montreal came aboard. The project was a "go". Work began in early December 2009 to convert and expand an existing building on Lennox Island into a world-class processing facility.
\

Aranson led a core staff and a group of local contractors through twelve hour days, six and seven days a week in the race to complete the task of being fully operational when the lobster fishing season opened on May 1, 2010. On April 21, hundreds of visitors from Lennox Island and surrounding communities celebrated the Official Opening of Minigoo Fisheries with ceremonies that included aboriginal drumming and singing, and a cutting of a ribbon by Grand Chief Shawn Atleo of the National Assembly of First Nations.

"I think I have been preparing myself for a moment like this,” said Aranson. “It is not often you are given the opportunity to design a seafood processing plant where you can put in place all of the techniques you learn over the number of years in different situations. I am a happy man". On May 1, 2010, Minigoo Fisheries processed its first lobster for the international marketplace. His was a short-lived bliss.

Minigoo Fisheries went into bankruptcy almost immediately after the grand opening in 2010.  First came announcement of the surprise departure of Aranson, Icelandic national who had arrived in Lennox Island First Nation an avid proponent of reconstruction of a dilapidated fisheries plant. What ensued was a shocking and somewhat expensive lesson in management.

Compounding the problem was a valuable catch that spoiled and contract and supply creditors fell on the hook when everything ground to a halt. It took two years to sort out the details and re-open the facility, proving Chief Bernard remains steadfast in her goal toward capacity-building the Lennox Island First Nation.

Success breeding success by building on existing strengths

George Morrison beside Burrard Inlet

George Morrison, 44, is an urbanite from Vancouver with family roots and Status membership in Namgis Nation. The Namgis (‘numb geese’)  homeland has traditional territory in the surroundings of North Vancouver Island and islands of the Broughton Archipelago. Morrison is a business person whose career has ranged far and wide in the First Nations economy. The process of being a business person in the world of First Nations is something of an exploration to everyone.
 

“I think the First Peoples Group of Companies is an amazing model for Aboriginal business,” says Morrison, of the brainchild he works with as an entrepreneur. “I did a $15,000 feasibility study that looked at things including the name. I picked ‘First People’ over First Nation because the term First Nation has become too politicized and even contains the ‘hand-out’ mentality,” that prevails with people living under the Indian Act, says Morrison. Meanwhile, the term First People had overwhelming positives in the recognition factors found in the study, a fresh look.

For over a decade Morrison operated Morgroup Management where they specialized in Co-Management as well as Third Party Management with financially distressed First Nation communities. “The Indian Act creates policy and a system to break out of,” says Morrison, candidly. “When I was working in third party management, I was, as far as INAC is concerned, nothing but a glorified accounts payable clerk. We evolved First People GOC by learning how to break out of the core-funding cycle,,” a valuable lesson.
 

“I was ten years ahead of my time when INAC core-funding was sparse,” as always, “and I started a company called Canadian Native Lumber to access First Nation fibre. I ended up working with First Nations using a model that permits the community to maintain independence. The Indian Act stops progress. Elections intervene in communities. The whole environment is unstable on, among other things, the economy.”

Morrison took to setting up development corporations and incorporating business success from role models like the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) and the immense developments surrounding Chief Clarence Louie in Osoyoos. He spent a number of years in consultation working with Tahltan, “TNDC could end up with possibly 50 Partnerships.”

He says, “I am building a blueprint for First Nation economic development that leads to independence,” in mind, spirit, and prosperity. “We will build long-lasting careers that give back and inspire others, scholarships, bursaries, funding for elders, community activities, and sports. We have looked at the organizational abilities of other communities like the Korean, Vietnamese, and East Indians who work together.”

Morrison sees urban opportunity gone to waste with skid row property long the close street-level purview of First Nation people in Canada, properties falling to the possession of savvy developers from the mainstream economy, and no First Nation investment or equity to really speak of. He sees a future when First Nations claw back millions of dollars being squandered under false pretences and put those funds into projects that create real jobs.

“When I go to a First Nation community and see people standing around, it makes me very excited,” says Dean Iverson, co-founder of First peoples Group of Companies, “and I am smiling because I am seeing a huge potential in human resources, social capital builders, men and women who are available to build the economic development capacity of First Nation communities.” There is a growing number of people outside these communities who see it the same way as Iverson, and in this way the world is changing fast.

He decided to make economic development of First Nations the highest priority Iverson has in doing business. He gained knowledge in the forestry industry, and his company, Iverson Forest Management, is engaged in all kinds of forestry operations in the province of B.C. with First Nations forestry licensees.

First Peoples Group of Companies has a number of divisions, economic development orientations toward forestry, environment, construction, natural resources, architecture and engineering, venture development, and a management division to take a wide view of the interests in First Nations communities. “These are places needing strategic support and professional development,” he says. “We work with First Nation members who want to build economy and capacity.”

First Peoples Group of Companies is the outcome of dealing with long-term strategic development issues in communities in forestry, and Iverson recognized a First Nations economy was progressing in a diversity of sectors. More opportunities show up in First Nations every day, “In a really good way,” says he, “these communities are making interesting gains and good things are coming up for them. For me it’s about hearing ideas, sharing their visions, and it is about listening.”

 Putting together a group specializing in First Nation economic development has been quite an effort, “We are excited about what we are doing and where we are going. First Nations are learning they have more capacity than previously understood. It's growing from a desire to live free of the systems that prevail. The Indian Act is what keeps First Nations from real progress. First Nation membership want to work! They just need the opportunity. First Peoples Group of Companies wants to make those opportunities a reality through job creation and training.”

Iverson says, “First Peoples Group of Companies contains a diverse number of development portfolios and each division recognizes First Nations are required to build an economy of their own that fits within the larger Canadian (and world) economy. Our management group recognizes this reality.”

The group is designed to work from a First Nation perspective, take that sense of direction and put business plans to it, “which could be anything. The management group will look at what is available for economic development and train people to seize the opportunity. Our goal is to walk away leaving the development running with it’s rightful owners.”

The message from listening over the years has been that First Nations want to bring home their membership and to do this they need infrastructure and management to make home a place of prosperity and opportunity. First Nations exist amongst a growing wealth of opportunities in natural resources and have an abundance of human resources to employ, and First Peoples Group of Companies is designed to work with the development corporation model or the independent operator in a community.

They take development envelopes that are dormant, empty, and fill them with the cash that comes from professionally managed opportunity. “So many Bands are resource rich and cash poor, so we answer the question of how to change this. We build on strengths, put people in situations where unique skills add new capacity to the community. We build on what they want to do, and take it through feasibility study, schooling, training, financial management, or construction. We are starting with business plans and collaborating until they have an operational office or turn-key enterprise.”

First Peoples Group of Companies has a role in liaison with industries that are making commitments to First Nations in skill development or joint venture economic development. Practically every sector of the economy contains skilled labour deficits. Looming labour crises confront mining, forestry, construction trades, and transportation industries. Professional development is needed for First Nations across the board as they take ownership of large assets like hydro development, commercial fisheries, and forestry licenses.

“First Nations have it, they have everything, and they need to work together to make opportunities happen. They must change the situation from what has been there in the past. They have a desire to go forward but do so without the wherewithal. They need to break out of routine and get past bad experiences. Bands with business failures in their history have to pick it up in the present. It’s time to end the sleight-of- hand that outsiders inflict on unsuspecting First Nations.”

Starting from a position of even a single strength, First Peoples Group of Companies will bring in other components to ensure success. Expanding opportunities will be seized by managers who have established relationships of trust in the business world, and when they know they can turn to a trusted management source. Transparency in dealings with First Peoples Group of Companies will spread to every business relationship in the future. Success will breed success.